Whether Louis A. Salazar will stand trial for the 1977 murder of an elderly Aromas woman is a decision to be announced Dec. 17 by Superior Court Judge Terrance Duncan.

The judge delayed his ruling at Thursday”s preliminary hearing to allow defense attorney Steve Rease time to research a technicality related to a previous ruling.

Teressie Edna White was 86 when her body was discovered in the bedroom of her Blohm Avenue home April 22, 1977, a death that was ruled by the Monterey County Sheriff”s Coroner”s Division to be a homicide, due to blunt force trauma to the head and face.

Salazar, 54, of Watsonville was arrested in April after Monterey County sheriff”s investigators, using current technology and additional witness information, developed evidence they said connects Salazar to the 31-year-old slaying.

The Aromas widow, who lived alone, was found in a rear bedroom with blankets piled on top of her body about 7p.m. the day of the slaying. Sheriff”s deputies said at the time that White was killed by someone who entered the house after smashing a glass pane in the front door.

At Thursday”s hearing, prosecution witness Alan Rowe, an investigator with the District Attorney”s Office, testified that a forensic pathologist who re-examined the original autopsy and coroner”s reports concluded that White died from blunt force trauma to the head and face. The judge allowed Rowe”s testimony despite Rease”s contention that it was multiple hearsay.

In a previous hearing, senior criminalists for the state Department of Justice testified that DNA found in scrapings taken from White”s fingernails matched Salazar”s DNA with a probability of one in 1.3 trillion. A DNA sample taken from White”s blood-stained bathrobe also was consistent with Salazar, with less certainty — a probability of one in 69 million.

Salazar is being held at the Monterey County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.